The No Child Left Behind Act was to be President George W. Bush’s signature legislation coming into Office. After being delayed by the 9/11 Terror attacks, the act received wide bipartisan support and was passed into law. Its purpose was to “close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice, so that no child (was) left behind” ("One Hundred Seventh Congress of the United States of America" 2008). In addition, “No Child Left Behind (aimed to continue) the legacy of the Brown v. Board decision by creating an education system that (was) more inclusive, responsive, and fair” ("A Guide to Education and No Child Left Behind-- Pg 13" 2007). Essentially, they were aiming to improve education with a problem definition amounting …show more content…
This is completely counter to how the federal government has traditionally left education in the hands of the state and local governments. Another way that Bush could have defined the education problem is that, “compared to the rest of the world, the United States is falling behind in education rankings.” Just before NCLB was put into place, “Test scores (earned by American students in a 1998 international study were) much worse than the marks that American elementary and middle school students…earned on similar international exams in the past two years” (Sanchez 1998). America had a less homogenous society in terms of wealth, language, and socioeconomic background compared to many of the top performers like Finland and Japan ("A Profile of Student Performance in Mathematics" 2004). This explains the emphasis on closing the gap rather than catching up to other countries.
Many alternatives were considered when NCLB was being fine-tuned. The following were all included in the final draft
The No Child Left Behind Act was based on the Elementary & Secondary Education Act of 1965. The act was established based on the promise of Thomas Jefferson to create a free public education system in Virginia (Hammond, Kohn, Meier, Sizer & Wood, 2004). The act is now reauthorized as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. The purpose of the No Child Left Behind Act was to make sure that children were given a fair, quality education. The act set out to close the achievement gaps in education, which were caused by children living in poverty, living with disabilities, children who were of different ethnic backgrounds and English learners. The proposed methods of the act targeted all children and provided an equal opportunity to meet
In 2001, Former President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. This Law launched the national standards and testing movement of the United States (2004).
When President George W. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) into law in 2002, the legislation had one goal-- to improve educational equity for all students in the United States by implementing standards for student achievement and school district and teacher performance. Before the No Child Left Behind Act, the program of study for most schools was developed and implemented by individual states and local communities’ school boards. Proponents of the NCLB believed that lax oversight and lack of measurable standards by state and local communities was leading to the failure of the education system and required federal government intervention to correct. At the time, the Act seemed to be what the American educational system
Abernathy, Scott Franklin. No Child Left Behind and the Public Schools. U of Michigan P, 2007. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). In this eBook, Scott Franklin Abernathy, an Associate Professor of Political Science and a Distinguished Teaching Professor at the University of Minnesota, presents a balanced critique of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). Abernathy argues that all policy makers must ask themselves “Can we ever really know if a child’s education is good?”, rather than assuming any test can accurately measure the elusive thing called a good education. Along with strengths and weakness of NCLB, Abernathy also presents many new models that law makers have been seeking to replace or use
During President Bush’s term, government became aware that American schooling needed major improvement. There was a need of a law which would improve the system while using scores to evaluate students as well as their teachers. "The fundamental principle of this bill is that every child can learn, we expect every child to learn, and you must show us whether or not every child is learning," (Secretary, 2002) President George W. Bush said on Jan. 8, 2002, signing ceremony of No Child Left Behind Act. However, this one size fits all approach revealed not be resourceful. "The goals of No Child Left Behind, the predecessor of this law, were the right ones: High standards. Accountability. Closing the achievement gap, but in practice, it often fell short. It didn 't always consider the specific needs of each community. It led to too much testing during classroom time. It often forced schools and school districts into
The No Child left Behind Act was intended to close the achievement gap in elementary and secondary schools by allowing each and every student the opportunity to have the best education possible. This law was signed by George W. Bush in 2001 who described it as a law that will, “Ensure that all children have a fair, equal and significant opportunity to obtain a high quality education”(Neill 2). The No Child Left Behind Act was only intended to help the students, but it is clear, not only to teachers, parents, and professionals, that it is time for a reauthorized law; One that each and every student can benefit from. The achievement gap in America’s school systems still exists. For the sake of America’s future, the school system must make a change now or the future of this country will suffer.
Several critical elements in NCLB ensure that schools are held accountable for educational results so that the best education possible is provided to each and
According to Klein (2015), NCLB was the result of a coordinated effort between civil rights and business groups, both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, and the Bush Administration, which tried to advance American competitiveness and close the achievement gap between poor and minority children and their more privileged counterparts. Subsequent to 2002, NCLB has made a huge impact on teaching, learning, and school improvement. It has also become progressively debatable with teachers and the general public.
The results are broken down into categories such as race, ethnicity, disability and students with limited English. The standards for teaching are also set higher, so the students can get the best education. Another reason why the NCLB is good, by measuring the educational status and growth by ethnicity the achievement gap between white and minority students will be smaller, and ultimately the gap will close.
In the short story, the commentator on the announcement is congratulated for at least trying to say “ladies and gentlemen.” Similarly, children are awarded for participation so that everyone feels included and equal, while in reality there are winners and losers.
Bush also signed the ‘No Child Left Behind Act’ which authorises the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and supporting standards-based education reform.The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) is a United States Act of Congress that is a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which included Title I, the government's flagship aid program for disadvantaged students. NCLB supports standards-based education reform based on the premise that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals can improve individual outcomes in
Another important attempt at education reform came during President George W. Bush’s era. President Bush proposed the No Child left Beyond Act which was passed by both congress and the senate and was signed into effect by President Bush in 2002. The act was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The NCLB Act set requirements that would affect every public school in America. It increased the federal government’s role in education and aimed the majority of its focus on disadvantaged students.
NCLB sets some new strategic directions to reform American education. The focus of President Bush's education agenda is to shift federal education dollars away from an emphasis on improving schools to an improvement of student performance and a closing of the gap between disadvantaged students and their peers. NCLB is structured to tie funding to accountability and results.
The No Child Left Behind act was signed and put into place by President George W. Bush in 2002. The act was passed in order to replace the Elementary and Secondary Act (ESEA), put into place by President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965, as part of his Great Society Program. The ESEA helped to cover the cost of educating disadvantaged students, while expanding the federal role in education. (Education Week 2015) The idea of the NCLB act, much like ESEA, was to help reform the educational system in both elementary and secondary school systems. The NCLB act was very ambitious, and brings up issues on improving the academic achievement of the disadvantaged, training high-quality teachers, language instruction for limited English proficient students, 21st-century schools, and enforcing technology. (U.S. Department of Education, 2010) One of the biggest factors of this bill was the idea of closing the gap between advantaged and disadvantaged students. Bush felt that this could be done by using standardized tests to measure how students were doing, and to see how well the teachers are doing. These tests were then used to identify which school systems were not performing
The ever evolving world of education calls for constant reflection and revision of processes and protocols in a school district. With the implementation of No Child Left Behind, the seed of standard based teaching took root and developed into greater endeavors like the Common Core Learning Standards. As each state has adopted these standards, teachers and students are becoming more aware and accustomed to using the standards every day in the classroom. In moving with this natural progression comes the notion of standards-based reporting and communication with parents.